*check out my last music round-up here!*
Halfway through the year already! Not only does June mark the midpoint of the year, but it’s also my birthday month, so you know I had to pull out all of the stops to find some extra special songs for this month’s list. Lots of sunny days in the garden have meant even more time to curate the perfect summer playlist – you can find that full 60+ track playlist here: Ciara's Country June 21 Playlist Read on for the best of the best!
Heaven’s Jukebox – Jaden Hamilton
Jaden Hamilton returns! Some of you may remember Jaden’s song Long Night Letting Go from my February round-up, and I swear I’m not trying to turn this blog into a Jaden Hamilton fan page, but if he keeps releasing music like this, I might just have to. I thought LNLG was a fantastic track, but Heaven’s Jukebox somehow blows even that out of the water. I knew I was going to love it from the very first notes – a scratchy vinyl, a simple instrumental, and then Jaden’s recognisable vocals. He toes the line between traditional and modern country in this track about what he wants in the afterlife: “If Heaven’s got a jukebox, I hope it’s filled up with country songs, I hope it’s got a dance floor, so we can two-step to ‘em all night long.” This is instantly likeable, instantly danceable, and hugely enjoyable. A must for Midland and Jon Pardi fans.
https://countryswag.com/jaden-hamilton-new-song-heavens-jukebox/
Wild Honey – Anna Vaus
This song very nearly made my May round-up, but having only been released at the end of last month, I hadn’t listened to it enough to know whether it quite deserved a place on one of my coveted lists. Having had it on repeat for the entire month of June, I can now assure you that it does. Anna Vaus should be the next big thing, and Wild Honey is the perfect testament of that. Here’s my elevator pitch as to why you should listen to it: 1) It sounds like exactly the sort of thing Kacey Musgraves would record, 2) Anna’s entire sound is a mix of Kacey, Taylor Swift, and Catherine McGrath, 3) These lyrics – “Whatever drives you wild honey, whichever way the wind blows your mind, whatever sets your soul on fire.” Are you sold yet? It’s soft, slow, and soulful; and Anna needs to become as much a regular on your playlists as she is on mine. Other notable tracks: Girl In A Bar (based on a dream about Harry Styles – need I say more) and Born On A Windy Day.
https://open.spotify.com/album/26BCtlHD1X80TZqJ5O2Mrc
June was obviously a month for fantastic female artists, and I’m not even halfway through. Queen of underrepresented Scandinavian artists, Sigrid, has produced some phenomenal tracks throughout the years – Don’t Kill My Vibe, Plot Twist, Strangers, High Five, and then disappeared for a few years before released Mirror. It was worth the wait. Mirror is an insanely fun and catchy disco-pop anthem that has all the elements of a feel-good summer bop – perfect beat drops, catchy lyrics, and a positive message to top it off: “It had to break, I had to go, cause it took me walking away to really know, I love who I see looking at me in the mirror… Nothing compares to that feeling right there in the mirror.” If you’re looking for the perfect song to rock out to in your shower, I’ve found it. If you’re looking for a new artist to stan, I’ve found that too.
https://genius.com/Sigrid-mirror-lyrics
See You Around – Tebey
Clearly mid-June was all about feel-good vibes, because not long after I discovered Sigrid’s Mirror, Tebey’s See You Around stepped into my life. Picture this: covid is finally (finally!) gone for good, you’re at a beach bar enjoying an ice cold Mai Tai, and that song that gets you feeling good comes on over the speakers. This is that song. I’m sure my neighbours appreciated me turning my speakers up every time this song came on, but I just couldn’t help it. Is it country? Is it pop? Who cares – it’s good. Tebey sings about a girl that he knows he ought to get over, but what’s the point when he knows he’ll see her around and they’ll no doubt reconnect: “Might be on a beach somewhere, sipping on… Reposado, might be in a downtown bar with your hair falling down. Road trip down to Mexico, or filling up at a Texaco, yeah, I’m telling you girl right now, somewhere, somehow, I’m gonna see you around.” I’m feeling good just writing about it.
https://genius.com/Tebey-see-you-around-lyrics
I told you I pulled out all the stops for my birthday month, and Ryan Nelson sure helped with that. This is a song that is undoubtedly going to go down amongst my top country songs of the year along with Steve Moakler’s How Have We Never and Kenton Bryant’s Sometimes She Stays. I think All My Dances tops off that trilogy perfectly – whereas the other two songs ponder about how two perfect people have never made it past ‘just friends’ to that initial rush when a relationship starts to bloom, All My Dances is the happy ending of getting the girl and keeping her. Ryan sings: “Baby, I wanna jump…all your fences, and I wanna take…all my chances, cause I wanna dance…all my dances with you.” It’s sweet without being saccharine, vulnerable without being too cutesy – if you want to break away from the cliché of playing Dan + Shay for your first dance, why not try Ryan Nelson instead?
https://open.spotify.com/album/3ZznH2PVCN28FyiUpuetp4?highlight=spotify:track:7hZdz3S7Wmsgk0VkoWRaky
Last Train Home – John Mayer
Years somehow always seem to get better when John Mayer decides to put out new weekend. Love On The Weekend was the best thing about 2016 (how was that so long ago?!), New Light (and accompanying music video) saved 2018, so it was about time we got a new JM banger. In fact, John doesn’t just help us escape from 2021, he takes us to a whole other decade. Last Train Home is so incredibly 80s, and features everything we love about John Mayer – breathy vocals, stunning guitar (a snazzy pink one in the MV), thought-provoking lyrics: “If you don’t wanna love me, let me go, I’m running for the last train (home)…No matter how you work it, things go wrong, I put my heart where it don’t belong, so if you coming with me, let me know, maybe you’re the last train (home)” But wait! It gets better! Maren Morris provides harmonies at the end of the song. Amazing.
https://open.spotify.com/album/0N81gHRK0RnJY0vMAOKVyi
Last Train Home, this song, and the last one to make this month’s list all came about within the span of about ten minutes. Whoever was looking down on me from above was obviously doing me a solid, because these tracks are just great. And yes, if as mentioned previously that this blog is slowly becoming a Jaden Hamilton fan page, I suppose it ought to also be labelled a Blu Eyes fan page because this is her second appearance on my songs of the year in as many months. I can’t help it if they keep releasing fantastic songs! Again, Blu Eyes stays in her niche of sad/happy songs, with this one veering a bit more towards the happy side in a song that embraces that feeling of finally getting out of that fun that a bad situation left you in and allowing yourself to be ‘actually happy’ again. This song may have been inspired by closure after a romantic relationship broke down, but personally, I know I’ll be using this song for that long-awaited day post-covid when I can at last sing along to the lyrics and mean it.
https://genius.com/Blu-eyes-actually-happy-lyrics
Jane – Brynn Cartelli
This song wins all the awards purely for content in my books. I won’t ruin it, I’ll let Brynn’s lyrics explain: “If my mother named me Jane, wonder if I’d be the same.” Finally! Someone put into words a question that I’ve wondered about all these years – does the name we are given affect who we become? Personally, I think yes – there are a hundred reasons why I think the name Ciara shaped parts of my personality, and Brynn obviously agrees. Even on paper, the names Brynn and Jane evoke completely different characters in my mind and in this deeply emotional and moving ballad, Brynn explains all of the ways ‘Jane’ would have been different: “If my mother named me Jane, I would never show up late, never need to catch a plane, never need to run away.” The most heartbreaking part? “Maybe you won’t love me cause I’ve gone insane, but maybe you would love Jane.”
https://genius.com/Brynn-cartelli-jane-lyrics
I promised you some amazing tracks for the month of June, and I hope I delivered! Let me know if there’s any you liked, and indeed what you’ve been listening to this month, on Twitter @CiarasCountry, and if you want to check out all of my monthly playlists and more, my Spotify can be found here, Ciara's Country Spotify. You can also join me ever Friday GMT 5-8pm on www.ukcountryradio.com for three hours of phenomenal country music – I hope you’ll join me! Thanks so much for reading!
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